Parish President Guy McInnis today ordered Parish Departments to take additional steps that can help slow the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) by going to essential personnel only and limiting public access to certain facilities.

“As you all know there are efforts all throughout the country to slow the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus). Parts of those efforts are strengthening the local response to the outbreak while continuing to run local government. However, we must do so by balancing the needs of the public with the needs of our employees and mitigating the spread of this virus. We are asking everyone to be ready to adapt quickly as this situation remains fluid” said Parish President Guy McInnis.

As such, the Los Isleños Museum Complex is currently closed to the public. We regret this closure but will announce when we will open as soon as possible. We want everyone to be safe and healthy during this time of uncertainty.

February 22, 2020

News Update

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

I thank everyone who is working so hard to support Los Islenos Fiesta 2020. I also thank our generous donors. The festival promises to be a great success with God’s good help!

BEN CROWE, President

FIESTA 2020 VOLUNTEER DATES – please support your Society!

Preparations for Fiesta 2020scheduled for March 7 and 8, 2020 have been moving ahead, though very persistent rainy weather has complicated grounds preparation efforts.Nevertheless, despite water-logged, spongy grounds, preparations remain on schedule.Empanadas and croquettas are in freezer storage provided by the St. Bernard Parish School Board.Lafitte Frozen Foods donated 100 pounds of peeled frozen shrimp and the remaining 400 pounds have been purchased and are also in freezer storage.Louis Pomes and Parish Government work crews have begun to work on the preparation lists and Parish President Guy McInnis is completely supportive of the festival as he always has been.Sheriff James “Jimmy” Pohlmann and his staff, Lieutenant Eric Eilers, have met with Society representatives and resources of the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Department necessary to the success of the festival have been identified and will be brought to the forefront before, during and after Los Isleños Fiesta 2020. Donations have been received for the Fiesta daily and continue to come in by mail.Office of Tourism and Film Director Katie Tommaseo secured a $2,500 grant from Lt. Governor Nungesser’s Louisiana Seafood Board to help subsidize the cost of oysters.The Membership Committee and the Fiesta Committee have been working overtime.Fiesta Chairperson Kathy Serpas Ziegler and co-chairperson Jeanne Lagarde have worked tirelessly to keep the process moving forward.Now, the Society needs your help to make Fiesta 2020 a success:

SATURDAY, February 29, 2020, 10:00 a.m. until ?????? Cut up fruit for sangria, sausage and whatever else is necessary. Please bring a sharp knife and cutting board. Luncheon will be served. Please bring old newspapers.

THURSDAY, March 5, 2020, 10:00 a.m. until ?????? Many different projects will be occurring. Susie Esteves will be baking in the Esteves House and needs your help – please call Susie at (504) 451 – 3201. Additional food preparation will take place as well in addition to setting the grounds. Luncheon will be served.

LOS ISLEÑOSFIESTA 2020 – March 7 – 8, 2020

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LOS ISLEÑOS FIESTA DESSERT COMMITTEE

Dessert Committee chairperson Susie Esteves needs your help!Susie will be baking in the Esteves House March 5, 2020 and March 6, 2020 from 10:00 a.m. until sunset each day.Tres leches cakes, brownies, cookies and other delectable sweets will be prepared.Donations of additional homemade cookies, rice crispy treats and bread pudding are very much needed for the Dessert/Sweet Booth.Please call Susie at (504) 451 – 3201 to make donations or answer questions about the booth.YOUR SUPPORT WIL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!

MAXORATA TO PERFORM AT NUÑEZ

Maxorata Folkloric Group from Fuerteventura Island will perform in the auditorium at Nuñez Community College Wednesday, March 4, 2020. A wine and cheese reception will be held in the lobby of the auditorium from 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The performance by Maxorata will begin at 7:00 p.m. The reception and performance are free of charge and opened to the public. Nunez Chancellor Tina Molero Tinney invited the group to perform for Fiesta 2020. She is a niece of Society founder Frank Fernandez and shares his passion for her Isleño heritage. Her great-great grandparents, Valentino Molero and Rita Alfonso were very early settlers at Shell Beach and had been born in Bencheque settlement, today called Reggio. Her great grandparents, Brooks Molero and Adele Nuñez, were well respected residents in Yscloskey and Shell Beach. Brooks’ nephew, Manuel Molero, founded Delacroix Corporation and his last home in St. Bernard Parish became El Museo de los Isleños in 1980. Brooks Molero helped to rear Manuel Molero after his parents, Valentino Molero and Manuela Nuñez, died while Manuel and his siblings were very young. Her grandfather, Louis Molero and her father, Melvin “Mully” Molero helped to found Los Isleños Society in 1975-76. Dr. Tinney has worked relentlessly to enhance Nunez Community College during her tenure as chancellor and is preparing to improve finding aids for the Frank Fernandez Collection in the near future. The Society expresses its gratitude to Dr. Tinney for helping us to promote Fiesta 2020 and supporting the preservation of our culture in such a meaningful way.

LENT SEAFOOD DINNERS at St. Bernard Catholic Church

St. Bernard Catholic Church will offer its annual seafood dinners every Friday during Lent except Good Friday, April 10, 2020. The dinners will be served in Iverson Hall February 28, March 6, March 13, March 20, March 27, and April 3 at 5:00 p.m. each Friday. St. Bernard Catholic Church was established in 1785 and is the oldest church parish downriver from New Orleans. It served the Canarian colonists who founded St. Bernard Parish and all others who lived in the original Poblacion de San Bernardo which lined the banks of Bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs. St. Bernard Catholic Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in the New Orleans area, establish in 1787 two years before St. Louis Cemetery no. One in New Orleans in 1789. St. Bernard Cemetery is the final resting place of not only the original European colonists who founded St. Bernard, but also of Enslaved Africans, several from the Congo, Filipinos and Fee People of Color all of whom resided in St. Bernard more than two centuries ago and contributed to its development. Veterans of the American Revolution – Galvez Expedition, Battle of New Orleans (more identified interments than any other cemetery in the region), the Mexican-American War, Civil War, World war I, World war II, the Korean Conflict, Vietnam, Desert Storm and other conflicts are all buried in St. Bernard Catholic Cemetery. These dinners, a great social event in Eastern St. Bernard, are a very important fundraiser for St. Bernard Catholic Church. Make every effort to attend these Lent dinners – you will not be disappointed!!

February 1, 2020

Newsletter

Edited by William de Marigny Hyland

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Thank you all for your interest. Los Isleños Society will celebrate its 45th annual fiesta in 2020. The result of a successful public-private partnership, Los Isleños Museum Complex has grown into a historical and cultural resource of great significance. We shall continue to move ahead with the generous support of our membership!

BEN CROWE, President

February 11, 2020 Membership Meeting

The next membership/Fiesta 2020 meeting will take place Tuesday, February 11, 2020 at 7:00p.m. in the Frank M. Fernandez Isleño Center, 1357a Bayou Road, St. Bernard Village.Kathy Serpas Ziegler will conduct the meeting as chairperson of the Fiesta 2020 Committee and review what has been accomplished to date and what remains to be done to prepare for Los Isleños Fiesta 2020.Arrangements for the festival are moving ahead according to schedule or somewhat ahead of schedule.Sheriff James “Jimmy” Pohlmann and Parish President Guy McInnis have both pledged, as always, their complete support of the festival.Funds raised through the annual fiesta subsidize repairs, general maintenance, improvements, interpretive/educational programs and public outreach programs of the Isleño Society.The following dates are scheduled for food preparation:

FEBRUARY 29, 2020 – cut fruit and prepare sangria – lunch will be served to volunteers participating in the sangria preparation – FrankFernandez IsleñoCenter

Los Isleños Fiesta is the major fundraising vehicle of the Society. Without the membership’s support, we cannot succeed. Please volunteer for the fiesta – enjoy theenvironment which has taken almost 50 years of relentless effort to build! With your enthusiastic support, our future can be bright indeed!!

January 2020 Meeting

Author Suzanne Stone delivered an excellent presentation on the history of coffee and its consumption in New Orleans and the region during the January 14th membership meeting held in the Frank M. Fernandez Isleño Center.Forty (40) members and guests attended the meeting.The reception following the presentation featured Spanish cheese from the Pais Vasco (Basque country), traditional Spanish chorizo, Spanish wine and an assortment of other refreshments.Jack Kramer won the January door prize, a $25.00 gift card from Gerald’s Burgers and Donuts.We thank Richard “Richie” Lewis, proprietor of Gerald’s Donuts and Burgers, for the generous gift. Door prizes will be offered during future membership meetings of Los Isleños Society.

CISLANDER US Exhibition – Capitol Park Louisiana State Museum

The Isleño Society has scheduled a field trip to view the Isleño/Canary Islander exhibition currently on display in the Louisiana State Museum Capitol Park, 660 North Fourth Street, Baton Rouge, 70802, for Saturday, February 15, 2020.A St. Bernard Parish School bus will depart February 15th at 9:00 a.m. from the St. Bernard Parish Government Complex, 8201 West Judge Perez Drive, Chalmette, LA, 70043.The exhibition is in its complete form with audio-visual components and additional photography not displayed in the New Orleans Cabildo.The exhibition in Baton Rouge will come down after March 17, 2020.

We ask all members not riding the bus to meet at the Government Complex and follow the bus to Baton Rouge.Society member and former Canary Islanders Heritage Society President Joan Aleman made a donation to defray the expense of the school bus.Admission to the Louisiana State Museum Capitol Park will be free of charge as will the bus transportation.Luncheon at the expense of individual members and/or guests will be at the Baton Rouge Piccadilly Cafeteria followed by dessert at the 190-year-old home of Mike Martin and Donna Mumfrey-Martin in New Roads, Pointe Coupee Parish and then return home.All thoseriding the school bus or traveling in their private vehicles need to make reservations with Secretary Bill Hyland by calling (504) 874-0635 or emailing him at whyland@sbpg.net.Other field trips in 2020 are being planned.

MEMBERSHIP DUES PAYABLE NOW

Membership dues have been coming in steadily since January 2020 and we thank those members who have responded so promptly.Please pay your either online by visiting our homepage and clicking on the “Join Now” button or mail your dues in the traditional method to:

January 2, 2020

Newsletter

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

I hope all the membership had a wonderful Christmas – New Year’s Holiday. We will remain in communication with all of you as we plan to move forward on many fronts in 2020. This is your society and we cannot succeed in our mission of preserving the heritage and cultural traditions of St. Bernard Parish Isleños without your generous support. Thank you all and God bless you!

BEN CROWE, President

William de Marigny Hyland

William “Bill” Hyland is the Parish Historian and Site Manager of the Los Isleños Museum Complex and a board member for the Los Isleños Society.

GREETINGS!

Accept our best wishes for a healthy, happy, prosperous and completely productive 2020! As always, an ambitious agenda awaits Los Isleños Society in 2020 which will be accomplished with the support of our membership. Los Isleños Fiesta is scheduled for March 7th and 8th, 2020 with performances by the Folkloric Group Maxorata from Fuerteventura Island forming the cultural centerpiece of the festival. Our first membership meeting in 2020 will take place Tuesday, January 14th, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. in Los Isleños Center.

JANUARY 14th, 2020 MEMBERSHIP MEETING

The next general membership meeting of Los Isleños Society will take place Tuesday, January 14th, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. in Los Islenos Center, 1357a Bayou Road, St. Bernard Village. Suzanne Stone will offer a presentation on the history of coffee in New Orleans, its St. Bernard connections and will have copies of her newly published book, New Orleans Coffee: A Rich History for sale. Ms. Stone is a volunteer docent at the Historic New Orleans Collection and is semi-retired from executive positions in nonprofit organizations. Suzanne works as a tour guide, presenting French Quarter, Garden District, culinary history, cemetery and ghost tours, as well as two unique tours: Jewish New Orleans and Women of New Orleans. She received the Friends of the Cabildo Golden Shoe award in 2017. Please attend the meeting to hear this fascinating presentation. A reception will follow the presentation.

2020 MEMBERSHIP DUES

Membership dues for the 2020 calendar year are payable now! Annual dues are $10.00 per person. Your dues sustain the activities of Los Isleños Society – for example, more than $60,000 was spent in 2019 repairing and enhancing the pavilions, rebuilding the Trapper’s Cabin, repairing and maintaining our grounds, historic buildings and nature trail. Please mail checks for dues payments to:

A dues statement will also be attached to the hard copy of this newsletter which will be mailed out to our membership. The Membership Planet on-line payment option will remain in effect until the Society’s membership functions are transferred to our website which is under reconstruction. As always, we thank you for your continued very generous support!

MAXORATA TO PERFORM IN LOS ISLEÑOS FIESTA 2020

Former president Lloyd “Wimpy” Serigne has successfully concluded arrangements to bring twenty-six members belonging to the Agrupacion Folclorico Maxorata to perform during both days of Los Isleños Fiesta 2020, March 7th – 9th, 2020. Maxorata will arrive at Armstrong International Airport Monday, March 2nd, 2020 and will depart from Armstrong International Tuesday, March 10th, 2020. The group is headquartered in Fueteventura Island – this will be the first folkloric group to perform in St. Bernard from Fuerteventura. Domingo Rodriguez, El Colorao, a virtuoso timple player and native of Fuerteventura, had performed during Fiesta 2003 and Fiesta 2013. He is the only other artist from Fuerteventura to have travelled to St. Bernard to support our annual fiesta.

Maxorata was founded in 1967, but experienced a period of inactivity until its reorganization in 1982. The group is highly respected in Fuerteventura and throughout the Canaries. They will wear the traje tipico or traditional clothing of Fueteventura. The name Maxorata was given to Fuerteventura by the original pre-European inhabitants. Their music/dance repertoire is traditional among all folkloric groups in the Canaries, though Fueteventura has a distinct interpretation of the folkloric music and dance as do all other islands in the archipelago. Folias, Isas, Seguidillas, Masurcas, Polcas and other dances and music promise to be performed to perfection by Maxorata!

Historically, Fuerteventura was the first island to be conquered by Jean de Betancourt, other French crusaders and Iberians commissioned by King Henry III of Castille in 1402. The conquest was initially undertaken to provide a source of crimson red dye for use in textiles. It took almost a century to complete the conquest of the Canaries which concluded with the fall of Tenerife in 1496. Juan de Acosta, a native of Fuerteventura Island and the progenitor of the Acosta family in St. Bernard Parish arrived in Louisiana with his wife, Luisa and two children from Havana aboard the Frigate La Margarita in 1783. Juan and Luisa had departed from Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 1780 aboard the Bergantin Español San Carlos and were forced to take refuge in Cuba until the end of the American Revolution. His son Roque Acosta, born in St. Bernard Parish in 1792, emerged as one of the wealthiest Isleños in the parish prior to the American Civil War. He was a veteran of the Battle of New Orleans, having fought in the Third Regiment of Louisiana Militia. He married Maria Antonia Marrero, became a successful sugar planter and was buried in St. Bernard Cemetery in 1857 opposite St. Bernard Catholic Church. Roque Acosta’s tomb is maintained by his descendants.

Let us all extend a very warm St. Bernard welcome to Maxorata!! The Fiesta Committee will meet in January and February 2020 to plan for a successful Fiesta 2020 – dates and times will be announced shortly!!!

TRAPPER’S CABIN PROGRESS

Don Melerine and Louis Pomes successfully coordinated efforts between Parish Government work crews and Society volunteers to complete the third trapper’s cabin reconstruction. A severe thunder-storm Sunday, April 7th, 2019 toppled a rotting, termite infested 60-year-old pin oak which destroyed the FEMA funded replacement of the original Trapper’s Cabin constructed by Calvin Melerine before Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Parish Government employees Ryan Carbo, a master carpenter, and Steve Castillion, worked for weeks under the close supervision of Don Melerine to erect the cabin. Parish Government electrician Craig Smith completed most of the electrical service installation prior to Isleno Christmas December 7th, 2019. Of course, Don Melerine constructed a new door and overhang over the door. Presently, lighting fixtures need to be installed in the cabin and Don is custom making four double-hung wooden windows to install in the cabin. Chalmette High School carpentry department is repairing the rope bed replica made by Mike Martin. Otherwise, all other furniture originally made by Calvin Melerine for the first cabin which survived Katrina miraculously was unscathed by the April 7th catastrophe and will be returned to the structure when completed. Former president Rhonda Rodriguez Hannan was diligent in finding building resources and remaining present throughout the recovery/demolition and rebuilding process and former board member “Cisco” Gonzales, Jr. organized a GO FUND ME page to accept donations for the rebuilding. While labor provided by Parish Government and Isleno Society volunteers was free of charge, the Society has spent to date thousands of dollars purchasing necessary building materials such as rough-cut cypress, tin roofing, nails, electrical conduit and other supplies. Parish Government provided work crews to remove vegetative debris from the April 7th storm, other trees infested with Formosan termites and rot, and selectively demolish the ruined parts of the cabin allowing to stand those parts of the cabin which could be reused – the foundation, floor and rear wall.

Here is another sterling example of how the public – private partnership between Los Islenos Society and St. Bernard Parish Government remains functional. It cost more than $60,000 to construct the Trapper’s Cabin using FEMA funding following Katrina in 2009.

MILOSHOFF STUDY

Andrew Miloshoff, a student studying Spanish at Purdue University, has remained active throughout 2019 in our community. Andrew is fluent in Spanish and is mastering the St. Bernard dialect of Isleño Spanish. He has interviewed almost two dozen informants to date who grew to maturity speaking Isleño Spanish as their first language. Most informants are Delacroix Island natives, though the Yscloskey Isleño descendants of Turiano Alfonso and Adele Campo have also demonstrated fluency as well and consented to recorded interviews. As always, “Wimpy” Serigne and Society member Stephen Schwarz have worked with Andrew to document the phenomenon of the Isleño dialect in its current decline. The work was funded by a grant from Purdue University, with significant support from Parish president Guy McInnis and Anthony A. Fernandez, Jr. The Frank Fernandez Collection at Nunez Community College has been made available by Nuñez Community Chancellor Tina Molero Tinney, Ph.D. and Head Librarian Richard de Foe. Communication with the Society began in December 2018 when Society Secretary Bill Hyland initiated dialogue with Mr. Miloshoff by email. Mr. Hyland has also helped to steward the Miloshoff study as well. The last documentation efforts occurred in the 1990s.

Andrew plans to translate the narrative in the Isleño Society website into Spanish so that there will exist for the first time a bi-lingual website in English and Spanish. An ultimate objective of the Miloshoff study will be to develop a glossary and later a dictionary of St. Bernard Parish Isleño Spanish. Andrew currently serves as president of the Purdue University student body and just completed a research trip to St. Bernard between December 12th and 23rd, 2019. We will keep the membership informed of the progress of this important work.